specificationVersion: '1.0'
id: omdb-finops
name: OMDb API FinOps
description: >
  Financial operations guidance for teams consuming the OMDb API. OMDb uses a
  donation/patronage model rather than metered billing, making cost predictable
  but requiring Patreon subscription management. Primary cost driver is the
  monthly Patreon pledge level, which also determines daily request quota.
url: https://www.patreon.com/omdb
created: '2026-06-12'
modified: '2026-06-12'

costModel:
  type: subscription
  billingCycle: monthly
  provider: Patreon
  currency: USD
  notes: >
    OMDb does not bill directly. Costs are managed through a Patreon membership.
    There is no per-request or per-call metered billing. All pricing is a flat
    monthly Patreon pledge.

tiers:
  - name: Free
    monthlyCost: 0.00
    dailyRequestQuota: 1000
    posterAPIAccess: false
  - name: Patron (Minimum)
    monthlyCost: 1.00
    dailyRequestQuota: 10000
    posterAPIAccess: true
    notes: Exact quota varies; $1/month is the entry-level patron tier.
  - name: Patron (Higher)
    monthlyCost: 5.00
    dailyRequestQuota: 100000
    posterAPIAccess: true
    notes: >
      Higher pledge tiers increase the daily allowance. Exact mapping of pledge
      amount to quota is managed by the OMDb creator on Patreon.

costDrivers:
  - name: Monthly Patron Pledge
    description: Flat monthly subscription via Patreon; the primary and only cost.
    type: fixed
    unit: month
  - name: Daily Request Volume
    description: >
      No per-request charge, but daily quota determines which Patreon tier is
      required. Teams exceeding their current quota must upgrade their pledge.
    type: threshold

optimizationRecommendations:
  - title: Cache responses locally
    description: >
      OMDb metadata is largely static. Cache lookup results by IMDb ID to avoid
      redundant API calls and stay within the free or low-cost tier.
    impact: high
  - title: Batch searches off-peak
    description: >
      Run bulk metadata enrichment jobs during off-peak hours to avoid
      hitting the daily cap during user-facing traffic windows.
    impact: medium
  - title: Use IMDb ID lookups over title searches
    description: >
      Direct IMDb ID lookups (?i=) are deterministic and return a single result.
      Title searches (?s=) may require multiple paginated calls; prefer ID
      lookups when the IMDb ID is already known.
    impact: medium
  - title: Monitor daily quota consumption
    description: >
      OMDb does not provide a quota dashboard. Instrument your integration to
      count outbound API calls and alert before the daily limit is reached.
    impact: medium
  - title: Evaluate Patreon tier against usage
    description: >
      Compare actual daily request volume against the current pledge tier
      quarterly. Downgrade if volume does not justify cost; upgrade proactively
      before hitting the cap in production.
    impact: low

budgetGuidance:
  annualEstimates:
    - scenario: Hobby / side project (free tier)
      annualCost: 0.00
      dailyQuota: 1000
    - scenario: Small production app (minimum patron)
      annualCost: 12.00
      dailyQuota: 10000
    - scenario: Medium production app (higher patron tier)
      annualCost: 60.00
      dailyQuota: 100000
  notes: >
    Cost is entirely predictable as a flat Patreon subscription. There is no
    surprise overage billing. If the daily quota is exhausted, requests fail
    with a 401 error until the next UTC midnight reset.